bush era tax cuts for everyone but the wealthiest americans. >> "regardless of partisan differences, our top sure that taxes on middle that would hurt our economy badly." >> reporter: a major sticking point continues to be the annual income level at which those tax increases should kick in. the threshold has wavered from 250-thousand dollars to as high as one-million dollars. republicans argue the country doesn't have a tax revenue problem, it has a spending problem. >> "unless we do something about spending, the government will continue to get bigger and the deficit will continue to get bigger." >> reporter: following the president's interview, speaker of the statement saying in part: "republicans made every effort to reach the 'balanced' deficit agreement that the president promised the american people.we've been reasonable and responsible. the president is the one who has never been able to get to 'yes.'" >> "what i ran on, and what the american people elected me to do, was to put forth a balanced approach." >> reporter: despite the on- going blame game, there is consensus on one